Benjamin Innes, who is from Leeds but lives in Aberdeen, was held hostage along with 56 passengers on EgyptAir MS181 flight by Seif El Din Mustafa.

Mustafa had personal motives to hijack the plane and his action was later linked to his ex-wife, who is a Greek-Cypriot and lives in Larnaca.

Innes, seen in the selfie with Mustafa, posed it to his friends on Twitter with a message: "You know your boy doesn't f*** about. Turn on the news lad!!!"A friend replied: "Is that a bomb attached to the guys chest? You ok? Let us know when you get off."

According to media reports, Innes is believed to have approached Mustafa while being held hostage on the tarmac and sent the photo to one of his flatmates as well as other friends.

"I have no idea why he took the selfie but I imagine he probably volunteered to take it as he's no afraid to shy away from anything," Innes' friend Chris Tundogan told media.

The social media went wild over the photo with the hijacker and several Twitter users lauded the British man for the daring 'selfie'.

Later, the Cyprus foreign ministry announced the arrest of the hijacker, who had taken charge of the Airbus 320 when it was on its way from Alexandria to Cairo saying he was armed with explosives. The plane was flown to Larnaca in southern Cyprus.

Soon after it landed in Cyprus, the hijacker freed most of the passengers, holding back only four crew members and three passengers whose nationality was not disclosed by officials.